


The Sevasey Collection

by justfandomthings



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hurt Kelly Severide, Hurt Matthew Casey, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Matthew Casey Needs a Hug, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-01-06 07:49:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21223100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justfandomthings/pseuds/justfandomthings
Summary: A collection of drabbles and short stories about the relationship and friendship between Casey and Severide. Some chapters will be episode-related, some will taken place in past seasons, others from more current seasons/present time, and some chapters will have Sevasey in a relationship while in others it will be bromance heavy.Notes in the beginning of each chapter will specify.





	1. Paperwork

**Author's Note:**

> Bromance in this one, set sometime mid-season 7.

With a quiet sigh of relief, Severide leaned back in his chair and closed the folder in front of him, finally putting an end to his paperwork for the night. 

In between two calls, dinner, and a stretch sitting at the Squad table, it had taken the duration of four hours for Severide to finish all his paperwork. He could only imagine the stress Casey was feeling with all his paperwork and the additional paperwork that came with his captain status. 

_ Speaking of Casey…  _

The last time Severide had emerged from his office, and a quick glance at his watch told him that had been well over an hour ago to refill his water, Casey had been bent over his desk with a stack of paperwork surrounding him, clearly highlighting how much work he still had to do. 

Chances were Casey was still elbow-deep in paperwork, and it  _ would  _ be fun to get to tease the guy about how he should have stuck with Lieutenant... Grinning at the thought, Severide stood up and stretched before exiting his office and making his way over to the other office. 

He tapped on the door once lightly before he turned the knob and let himself inside, his eyes widening a fraction at the sight of Casey slumped over at his desk, his cheek resting on the pile of paperwork he had clearly been working on. 

"Casey?" Severide asked, chuckling to himself as he made his way over to the other side of the desk, leaning over so he could get level with Casey's face. "Man, being Captain's really doin' a number on you, isn't it?" 

At the sound of his voice, Casey grumbled under his breath, shifting in his chair momentarily as his eyes fluttered open. 

"Sev?" Casey mumbled, eyes closing for a second before opening for real. "What're you doing here? Time is't?" 

"Twelve twenty and I was checking to see how your paperwork was going." Severide gestured at the pile Casey was currently using as a pillow. "You're an old man, falling asleep while doing your paperwork." 

"It feels that way," Casey muttered as he straightened up, wincing as his neck protested the movement, his back cracking a bit for extra measure too. 

"Yeah you look it." Severide softened as he leaned against the wall and watched Casey stumble over to his bed, collapsing face down on it. "You good, man?" 

"Couldn't fall asleep until late last night," Casey yawned. "And paperwork is boring." 

"You don't have to tell me that, I already know that," Severide laughed, watching as Casey's body relaxed into the mattress. In the time it took him to straighten up the papers on Casey's desk, the captain already seemed to be back asleep. 

With a faint smile, one that was solely reserved for the captain, Severide walked over to the bed and gently laid the covers over Casey's prone form. "Sleep well, bud," he murmured, pausing for a second to observe the peace before he left the room, turning the lights out as he went. 


	2. The Worth of a Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bromance in this one, set mid season-1. Trigger warning for low mental thoughts.

As he lays on the ground, tired, broken, hurting, he decides it could be worse. It could be one of his men. And if it _ had _ been one of his men in his place... _ no_. Thinking like that is toxic. Andy is dead and nothing he says or thinks or does will ever bring him back.

But maybe… just maybe…maybe his death will be worth it considering he’s died to protect his crew, his _ friends_. 

Something in the corners of his mind, past all the fog and all the pain, something calls his attention away from his thoughts to the shrill beeping. _ Huh_. _Is that his PASS going off?_ Deciding it's likely, Casey decides moving is probably his best course of action. After all, if that _ is _ his PASS going off, that means he’s in trouble. And if he’s in trouble, that means Boden is likely going to send his men in to rescue him. 

And if he’s hurt, then the building is unstable and if the building is unstable and his men are coming in… 

“-asey? Casey?!”

That sounds an awful lot like his name. Coughing, Casey brings a trembling hand to his radio. He fumbles for a moment and then grabs hold of the device. “Severide?”

The radio is silent for only a beat before Boden demands strong and firm, “Casey, status, now. The building is unstable; you need to get out.”

Casey looks around, coughing, looking for an exit. _There’s a door…_

“That’s great, Casey! Can you get to the door? I need you to go _out _that door!" 

Casey blinks. Did he leave his radio on _ and _say that out loud? Frowning, he pulls his hand away and allows his thoughts to refocus as he ignores the frantic calls of his name by Severide and Boden. With his head clearing a little now that he's been conscious for a minute or so, despite Boden’s worry for him, he recognizes that Chief won’t send anyone in to help him. Not so long as the building is unstable. Boden won’t endanger his men’s lives.

Good. That’s good. 

“Casey!” Severide’s voice is high, demanding. 

“I’m on my way out. I found a way, Chief,” Casey says calmly. “I’ll be coming out the northeast quadrant.” 

That’s a lie but they don’t know that. With the beam collapsed on his legs, there’s no way Casey is going to be able to get it off himself, let alone stand on his own if he does manage to get the beam off him.

But like hell is he going to tell them the truth- that he’s trapped- so Severide can defy whatever orders he has to stay put so he can come and be the hero and rescue Casey. 

_No_, Casey can’t let that happen. He lost Andy because he failed his duties as a lieutenant. He won’t lose Severide too- not because of his own failure to notice he was standing under a breaking support beam. It’s a matter of minutes before the rest of the ceiling falls on him and he won’t, he _ can’t_, allow Severide to get hurt too. 

Andy died because of him. 

His injury now, his death, if it were to happen, would be just.

Someone is calling his name again. Casey groans, turning his head limply to the side so he can observe the flickering flames that are beginning to slowly creep closer to his body. Well, if the ceiling doesn’t cave in first, the fire will do him in for sure. 

“I’m coming,” he snaps in annoyance into the radio. “Meet me at the door, Severide.”

“Tell me where you are right now.”

Severide’s voice is way too calm. Casey frowns, unsure of how he wants to respond. 

“Casey, tell me!”

And then Boden’s voice, furious and cold, “Severide, get outside right now!”

Severide doesn’t respond and Casey’s heart stops for a moment. “Severide, you’re inside?!”

“You forgot that your PASS is still going off. You fucking idiot,” Severide fumes into the radio, no doubt headed to his location right now as he continues to snap, “You _ lied._ You said you were coming out. You-”

The ceiling groans ominously. Casey looks up, gasps, and manages to turn his body just enough so the dropping piece of mortar clips his shoulder instead of his head. He groans, the shock of the pain from his shoulder both energizing him and making him wish to just fall back unconscious. 

“Severide, get out _ now!” _comes Boden’s furious command. 

But Severide doesn’t respond to him. Casey’s gathering the strength to bring his hand back to his radio to order Severide to leave when he hears his name being called. When he blinks, Severide is leaning over him, his dark eyes wide and filled with hatred and maybe _ fear _ too_. _

“You fucking moron,” Severide snaps and then his face disappears from view. 

Casey groans, calling Severide’s name, and is relieved when he hears Severide grunting from somewhere nearby. It takes him a moment, too long, to realize that Severide is trying to shift the beam off his legs. 

It won’t work, not before the ceiling caves. 

“Go,” Casey groans. “This place is going.”

“And you think I’m going to leave you here?” Severide growls and Casey can’t tell if it’s out of anger or frustration with the situation or him or all of the above. “Go to hell.”

“Severide-”

“Shut up!” Severide yells, grunting, and all of a sudden the pain is his legs is suddenly so much better and then so much worse as the amount of pain he’s truly in sinks in. The ceiling is croaking, pieces falling now, and Casey shouts, trying to warn Severide of the danger he’s in- the imbecile- when he’s scooped up into a fireman’s hold and carried through the flames, down the stairs, through more smoke and flames, and then is laid down gently on an awaiting stretcher. 

Someone is calling his name and it takes Casey several moments to realize that his mask has been taken off and that Dawson and Shay are leaning over him, looking worried as they ask him questions and don’t get a response. 

_ Can you feel this? _

_ Matt, stay with us. _

_ You’re going to be okay. _

_ Pulse is… _

Why are they talking to him so much? Casey closes his eyes, tired of hearing so much chatter when all he wants to do is sleep the pain away. 

But a voice, unlike the annoyance of the non-important questions and statements of the other two, cuts into his thoughts and forces his eyes to open once again. “Casey? Casey?! No, no, bud, stay awake, come on, buddy…”

He sounds scared. 

Severide never sounds scared. 

So when he hears Severide continue to plead with him to stay awake, Casey opens his eyes. He’s beyond tired, he’s _ exhausted _ and he’s in _ pain _ and he really just wants to sleep… but he doesn’t. He won’t, not yet, because his brother needs him to stay awake. 

The relief that shines in Severide’s eyes when they make eye contact is humbling. For all their bickering and disagreeing over the years, not to mention all their fighting in the past six months, after Andy, Severide is uneasy at the thought of him- no, he is _ scared _because he is hurt and it could be serious. 

“Sev?” Casey manages to mumble around the fogginess making it hard for him to focus, let alone speak. Everything _ hurts_, his back, his legs, his shoulder, his head… everything hurts so badly, and he just wants to sleep so the pain will fade but he can’t because Severide pleaded with him to stay awake…

But it hurts to even stay awake.

There’s suddenly a gentle squeeze to his hand and Casey focuses on that as if the hand in his own is his lifeline, holding as tight as he can as Shay and Dawson move to put him in the ambulance. 

“I’m right here, bud, I’m coming,” Severide comforts and it’s somewhat soothing to Casey when Boden doesn’t even protest. He knows they’ll both have a tongue-lashing coming later, Severide more so than him for disobeying direct orders, but it’s nice to know that he won’t be alone in the hospital. 

Granted, he wouldn’t be because Shay and Dawson would be with him like they are right now… but he’s glad Severide is coming. 

“Can I sleep now?” Casey grumbles, pouting slightly as he looks up to make eye contact with Severide. His head is pounding still but, at least, his legs have numbed to the point where he can’t feel the pain from them anymore. 

Severide looks uncertain, shaky. “Stay awake for me, yeah? Just for a little bit longer, I promise. Then you can sleep as long as you want.”

“M’kay,” Casey mumbles tiredly. He keeps his eyes open but allows his gaze to focus on a spot on the wall behind Severide’s head as his thoughts wander back to the inside of that fire. 

Severide had come for him. 

No one was supposed to come for him. 

The building was unstable. What if-

_ What if Severide got hurt trying to rescue him? _

Maybe that’s why Severide is so upset, because he’s hurt and it’s because of Casey, because Severide had to go back in for him and got injured in the process-

Casey bolts, trying to sit up. He gasps in pain at the movement, his back wildly protesting every single action he just made, but Casey ignores Dawson’s hands trying to push him back down onto his back as he demands frantically, “Are you okay? Were you hurt?”

Severide gazes at him, a bit sadly. “I’m fine, Case. You were the one who got pinned, remember?”

“Yeah,” Casey huffs. “But the ceiling was collapsing and you came in for me when you shouldn’t have and-” He pauses, his voice suddenly quiet. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Severide shakes his head. “You didn’t do anything.”

“I got hurt and you had to come after me. You could have gotten hurt and-” Casey gasps as white clouds his vision when the ambulance strikes a pothole. 

“Sorry,” Shay calls from the front. 

Casey ignores her, saying, “I didn’t mean to put you in danger. I wouldn’t. I-”

“Casey, what are you talking about?” Severide grips his hand tightly. “You’re fine, you hear me? Sure, you’re hurt but you’ve been through worse. You’re going to be fine. And I’m not hurt _ at all _so you can stop apologizing.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Severide says firmly. His eyes are firm yet somehow warm as he adds, “We’re almost there, Casey. Just hang on for a few more minutes.” 

And so Casey does, even though he can’t shake the feeling that he’s somehow managed to mess things up with Severide all over again.   
  


Waking up isn’t as easy as he had hoped it would be. His throat is dry, unbearably so, and talking doesn’t seem like a good idea because how is he going to manage to talk when there’s no saliva for him to swallow? 

And he’s not just in pain, he’s also exhausted. It feels like he didn’t even sleep which isn’t fair at all because he knows for a fact that he was just sleeping for who-knows-how-long. 

But the tiredness isn’t the worst part. He’s been tired for a long time, both from busy calls during the night to having nightmares when he sleeps, so being exhausted now is nothing new. 

The guilt is the worst part, by far. He’s used to that too, after being the cause of Andy’s death, but to nearly kill Severide because the man had to come after him because he was trapped?

And to remember how he had been knocked down, how he had laid there, _ helpless_, _ pinned_, and how even though he knew it was unsafe and the ceiling was going to collapse, he still couldn’t even convince them he was okay so as to stop Severide from risking his life and coming after him… 

Casey’s eyes close as soon as they open. 

But it’s enough. 

“Casey?” His hand is squeezed and wait- is Severide still with him? Why hasn’t he left? “Come on, Matt, I saw you open your eyes. I know you did. Open them again.”

How can he say no to the man that saved his life?

He’s reluctant, but manages to open his eyes again. Severide is leaning over him when he does, their faces not so far apart due to Severide sitting on the bed at his left hip as he looks down at him, worried. 

“About time you woke up,” Severide laughs but his voice sounds too tight to simply be happy. He sounds relieved, as if he had been scared. 

Casey frowns at him. “How long...was I out?” he manages to say around the dryness in his throat.

Severide holds up his hand, pausing the conversation, as he reaches over to the side table to grab a styrofoam cup. He tilts an ice chip onto a spoon and then brings the spoon to Casey’s mouth. He sucks on the chip gratefully, happy to have the cool water in his mouth to soothe his aching throat. 

“Thanks,” he croaks. 

Severide nods. “You were out for over ten hours,” he informs him, suddenly looking tense. 

Casey grimaces at the look and then remembers his legs. He bolts upward, trying to make sure they didn’t have to amputate- he did have a metal beam crushing his legs for who-knows-how-long - only to be gently eased back down by Severide’s light touch of his hands to his shoulder and arm. 

“My legs-” Casey gasps. 

“All good,” Severide reassures, trailing his hand down Casey’s shoulder to his elbow. “Doc says both are broken but there should be no permanent damage as long as you stick to your PT.”

Casey slumps back down, utterly relieved. “Good.” He pauses, thinking, and then asks, “What else?”

Severide shrugs at him, still looking a bit tense. “Mild concussion, bruised shoulder, sprained back from when you landed on your O2 tank. You’ll be off work for a while.”

Well, that explains the horrible back pain. And the throbbing in his shoulder.

But Severide looks tense which makes no sense because none of his injuries are life-threatening… unless Severide is hurt too?

Casey sits up again, expertly ignoring the way his back and shoulder scream at him in protest as he frantically reaches for Severide. “Are you hurt?”

Severide raises an eyebrow at him. “I’m fine, don’t have a single scratch on me. I’m supposed to be worrying about you, not the other way around.”

“I’m fine,” Casey says stubbornly. 

“And I’m Santa,” Severide says dryly as he helps Casey lay back down again. “Stop moving, would ya? Your back is going to give you hell for all your moving.”

It already is but Casey isn’t about to admit that. “I’ve had worse,” he says firmly.

“I know but that doesn’t mean this can’t be painful.” 

Casey shrugs, avoiding the obvious question in Severide’s words. Severide sighs, looking more worn than Casey has seen him in a long time. “You’re a fucking moron,” Severide mutters. 

Casey looks up at him, frowning. “What?”

“You’re a fucking moron!” Severide snaps, looking away. “Lying, telling us you had a way out when you _ knew _you were trapped… what the hell were you thinking?”

“That I wasn’t worth one of my men dying for?” Casey ventures. “I was trapped and the ceiling was going to come down any minute. I’ve already lost one of my men to my failures, I wasn’t going to lose someone else because I got jammed up. I made the right call.”

“No, you didn’t,” Severide growls and his face is suddenly a lot closer to Casey’s than it ever has been before. “You could have _ died_, you fucking idiot. If I hadn’t pulled you out, you would have. And you didn’t even think about that, you just laid there and waited to die; you could have died in that fire, alone! That’s not okay!”

“I wasn’t going to lose someone else!” Casey yells, ignoring the sting of tears in his eyes. “I _ wasn’t!_”

“So what? It’s okay if I lost you?” Severide’s voice is suddenly low and full of a pain that Casey is stunned to hear. _ Grief. _

“Severide…”

“No! I know you think Darden was your fault but it wasn’t. And you don’t get to make the call of whether or not someone else’s life is more important than yours. A life is a life, Casey, and yours matters too! And did it ever occur to you that if you died, we would mourn? That _ I _would mourn? For fuck’s sake, Casey, you’re my best friend!”

Casey can’t bear to look at him. Hearing the fear in Severide’s voice is horrible. Had he died, it would have been to protect his men. No one was going to_ mourn _ him, least of all Severide… Casey had been so sure of that. After Darden they barely got along and fought all the time. Casey had been positive that his death would be for the best because at least all of his men would have made it out this time. But…

“You didn’t think I’d be sad that you died.” Severide’s voice is full of grief as he comes to that realization. “_Fuck_, Casey, I’ve treated you that bad… you didn’t even think I’d _ care _ if you _ died?” _

Casey truly cannot look at him now. Not after hearing the wobble in Severide’s voice, the way Severide sounds so _ hurt _and… And it’s all because of him. 

To somehow make it even worse, they are never this open with each other. _ Never_. So why are they now? Why is today, tonight, whichever it is, suddenly so different?

They’ve gone months without a real conversation, not one that mattered, and now, all of a sudden, they are not only properly talking, but are actually being open about their _ emotions? _

That never happens. 

But if Severide is making an effort to be honest with him and _ maybe _repair what’s been broken between them, shouldn’t Casey try to do the same? 

“What was I supposed to think?” Casey asks quietly, bitterly. “You said it should have been me. I agreed. And there was no way in hell I was going to allow another one of my men, my friends, to die…”

“I was _ wrong_,” Severide snaps, his voice low and broken. “I never should have said that to you, Case, it was a horrible thing to say and it wasn’t your fault… Darden went in because he wanted to. And no amount of blaming will bring him back or change what happened but God, Casey, I’m so sorry…”

Casey’s eyes widen. Severide never apologized to him, never apologized for blaming him or for telling him he should have died. Never and… 

He just _ apologized_. 

It’s hard to form words around the lump forming in his throat but Casey manages to mumble, “I’m sorry too.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Severide tells him firmly and, somehow, that seems like the end of their conversation. 

Casey leans back, tired and utterly destroyed by the amount of emotions and thoughts racing through his mind because of their conversation. 

“I’m going to get the doctor, let him check you out, okay?”

“Fine,” Casey mutters, ready to be seen by the doc so he can sleep some more and then gain the energy to talk the doctor into letting him be released sooner rather than later. Some ten minutes later, he’s got his next dosage of medicine in him, he’s been thoroughly checked by the doctor and given the “you’re hurt but not dying” speech, and he’s well on his way to falling asleep when the bed dips at his side. 

Casey opens his eyes sleepily to find Severide is back to sitting on the bed. “You should go home,” he mumbles. “Get some rest.”

Severide shakes his head. “And leave you here alone? Nah, I can’t do that.”

“M’fine, Severide.”

“You’re just trying to get rid of me, aren’t you?”

“Depends.” Casey cracks an eye open, finding he’s somehow closed them in the last thirty seconds. “Is it working?”

“Nope.”

“Fine, but don’t complain when your back hurts because you’ve been sitting in an uncomfortable chair all night.”

“It’s actually morning. You slept through the entire night.”

Casey frowns. _ No one from his team came to visit him? _

Severide looks sheepish. “That’s on my orders, actually. I told them to stay away until you get home because you need your rest.”

“Did I ask that out loud?” Casey mutters, ashamed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Severide taps Casey’s arm with his hand. “Sleep.”

“Yes, _ mom_.”

Severide laughs. It’s the first time Casey has heard his friend laugh in a long time and it warms him to realize that there might be some hope to salvage their friendship after all. He allows his eyes to close and he’s almost, _ almost _asleep when Severide whispers, “You scared me, Matt. I can’t lose you too…” 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Casey murmurs, he thinks, but he might be asleep already. Judging by the hand that he feels capture his own, he’s probably dreaming. That’s only backed up when an equally soft voice responds, “You better not; I’d be lost without you…”


End file.
